Chaos all Over


A chaotic scene in black and white …flow of black sands from the mountain during the rains…

6D 2, 24 105 , ISO 400., 1/25, F11

Balan Vinod

Abstract images are very personal so I will only comment on how this image touches me.

The processing looks quite good. In terms of the tech, I wish the bottom area is sharper/more in focus. In terms of image design, the patterns on the UL and UR corners are a little too close to the corners to be the focus of the image, in my opinion. So, the pattern near the center of the image that resembles a dragon opening its mouth is the one that grab my attention. (Although I see an horse on the UR corner). The rest becomes somewhat a distraction to it.

It is a pretty emotional image. Still, as you say, it’s awfully busy and difficult to rest upon. I can see what attracted you here.

I agree with @Adhika_Lie that abstracts are very personal, which means they can be hard to critique on than on subjective personal reaction. I like the shapes and patterns in the top half of the image much more than the bottom, and i might consider a 16:9 aspect ratio on the top half, and crop the bottom away.

I think the processing of the B&W tonality and contrast is very well done. But because of variable sharpness and clarity across sections of the image, this is one of those rare images where I think the smaller version looks better than the larger version. You could try to increase sharpness locally in some of these areas I suppose.

To add that abstracts are personal, I think this is fantastic as is and wouldn’t change anything. I love that it takes a minute to recognize what I’m looking at, especially water vs. dry, and that there is so much for the eye to wander through. Well done.

Thanks all for the kind words about this image. I get drawn to abstract shapes in nature. Composing this scene wasnt easy, as it was chaos already…

Thanks again,

Balan Vinod

Hi @Balan_Vinod, i love this shot. I think monochromatic post processing works well. Very inspiring for me. Thanks for sharing.

Awesome abstract, it takes a lot of experience, or just the right lightbulb moment to see them and their potential such as this monochrome. Busy works for this imho, but if I were to attempt to simplify by cropping, I’d also choose the lower section, maybe to just below where the highlight section at the lower-right starts. get a little bit of that nice curve, but maybe about a third of what is currently there?